Uri Geller

Academic

An internationally known television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known best for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other supposed psychic effects. Throughout the years, Geller has used simple conjuring tricks to simulate the effect of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller’s career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries.

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Geller gained notice for demonstrating on television what he claimed to be psychokinesis, dowsing, and telepathy.[15] His performance included bending spoons, describing hidden drawings, and making watches stop or run faster. Geller said he performs these feats through will power and the strength of his mind.[16] Magicians and skeptics have noted that Geller has been caught cheating and his performances can be duplicated by stage magic tricks.[17][18][19][20]

In 1975, Geller published his first autobiography, My Story, and acknowledged that, in his early career, his manager talked him into adding a magic trick to make his performances last longer.[21] This trick involved Geller appearing to guess audience members' license plate numbers, when in fact his manager had given them to him ahead of time. One of Geller's most prominent critics is the skepticJames Randi, who has accused Geller repeatedly of trying to pass off magic tricks as paranormal displays. Randi often duplicated Geller's performances using stage magic techniques.[20][22]

By the mid 1980s Geller was described as "a millionaire several times over", and claimed to be performing mineral dowsing services for mining groups at a standard fee of £1 million.[23] In June 1986 the Australian Skeptic reported that Geller had been paid A$350,000 and granted an option 1,250,000 Zanec shares at 20c each until 5 June 1987.[24]

Geller bending a spoon in a mall in Switzerland, 2005

Geller starred in the 2001 horror film Sanitarium, directed by Johannes Roberts and James Eaves. In May 2002, he appeared as a contestant on the first series of the British reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, where he was the first to be eliminated and finished in last place. In 2005, Geller starred in Uri's Haunted Cities: Venice, a XI Pictures/Lion TV production for Sky One, which led to a behind the scenes release in early 2008 called Cursed; both productions were directed by Jason Figgis. In early 2007, Geller hosted a reality show in Israel called The Successor (היורש), where the contestants supposedly displayed supernatural powers; Israeli magicians criticized the program saying that it was all magic tricks.[25] In July 2007 NBC signed Geller and Criss Angel for Phenomenon, to search for the next great mentalist; contestant Mike Super won the position.[26] In January 2008, Geller began hosting the TV show The Next Uri Geller, broadcast by Pro7 in Germany.[27]

In February 2008, Geller began a show on Dutch television called De Nieuwe Uri Geller, which shares a similar format to its German counterpart. The goal of the programme is to find the best mentalist in the Netherlands. In March 2008, he started the same show in Hungary (A kiválasztott in Hungarian). During the show, Geller speaks in both Hungarian and English. Geller also performs his standard routines of allegedly making stopped watches start, spoons jump from televisions, and tables move. Geller co-produced the TV show Book of Knowledge, released in April 2008.[28] In October 2009, a similar show, called The Successor of Uri Geller.[29] began on Greek television.